Manchester Arena Attack – The Aftermath

Recent events in Manchester have put things into perspective even more. For me, it has been sickening to see what some people are capable of; to see how much one action can affect an entire city. Families and friends have been distraught, heartbroken, and empty.

I can’t even imagine how it would have felt to have been at the Ariana Grande concert on Monday 22 May. The noises. The fear. The vision that was displayed. Children. Young, young children.

Sometimes I ask myself, “What kind of world do we live in?” and I see a cruel one. But then I take a step back and see that it can be people who make it that way.

Manchester stick together

However, when I look at the strength and togetherness of Manchester, I see a city who are proud. That makes me see the world we live in from a whole different perspective.

No age determines the more of a right you have to be taken away from the world. 8 years old. Why? To have the intention to hurt anyone of any age in all of this atrocity is sickening. To hurt children is on a completely other level of wrong.

A night full of life and excitement ended with despair, grievance, and sorrow.

Are you afraid?

A lot of people are saying we are not afraid. I am afraid a little. The power behind the attack terrifies me. When I’ve been travelling to work this week my head has been turning in all directions.

On the first day, everywhere was crazily busy. I couldn’t go down any of the roads to get there. It felt quite surreal to see how many police, armed police, and filming crew around surrounding Manchester Arena, Victoria Station, and nearby.

22 May 2017 will trigger many peoples’ emotions and bring back the worst of memories for the rest of their lives. Utter and complete heartbreak.

Be strong

I’ve felt stronger walking past the area again this morning but today I saw something else. I saw two women contributing to the flowers, teddy bears, and bee decorations that were placed outside. I took a moment to stop, and gulped. I had no words.

There are many people who will do anything they can to help, from the homeless, to the amazing response of blood donors turning up at centres.

It’s great to see the other cities and countries who are supporting us. Here’s to making Sunday 28 May a special way for the city of Manchester at the Great Manchester Run. I’m sure we’ll all feel a sense of pride once we complete it.

Author: Natasha Bolger

4 Comments on “Manchester Arena Attack – The Aftermath”

Such a heartfelt post. I’ve been in Manchester for the last 2 days and even when I was busy my thoughts were always with the victims. Will be writing a post on my blog later on this week 🙂 keep up the good work x

My passion for writing started back to the days of putting pencil to paper in primary school. I loved story telling. Since the age of 3-years-old, I’ve taken a great interest in writing about the things I’m thankful for.